This invention relates to color ink jet cartridges, and in particular to user refillable color ink jet cartridges.
The ink jet printing process is now used for full color printing of computer generated documents. For example, Hewlett-Packard Company (3000 Hanover, P.O. Box #10301, Palo Alto, Calif. 94303-0890, USA) has developed full color printers such as their Hewlett-Packard Desk Writer C, in which the ink jet printhead and the three primary colored inks are all contained in a single, disposable cartridge. This cartridge is Hewlett-Packard #51625A, which has an upper portion with three chambers, said chambers containing cyan, magenta, and yellow inks respectively, and a lower portion with fine orifices controlled by printed circuits to dispense the ink under computer control. Said upper portion of this cartridge contains three air vent/ink refill holes which are protected by a cap.
The advantage of the above described color ink jet dispensing system is that the cost of the system is reduced since the consumable parts are not in the equipment itself, but rather in the disposable print cartridge, thereby reducing maintenance costs. However, the cost of each copy is increased due to the fact that the entire cartridge (including the printhead) must be discarded even if only one color is depleted, with the other two ink colors still in good condition.
The instant invention addresses the above mentioned disadvantage by disclosing a method for converting a non-refillable color ink jet cartridge into a user refillable cartridge, thereby providing an economical refillable color ink jet cartridge for continued and future use.